Method of producing from amber, ambroid, or the like, in mass, cigarette-holders, pipe-stems, &amp;c.



No. 742,245. PATENTED 001*. 27, 1903.

E. SIMON. METHOD OF PRODUCING FROM" AMBER, AMBROID, OR THE LIKE,

IN MASS, CIGARETTE HOLDERS, PIPE STEMS, &c.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

own/e4 UNITE STATES Patented Cctober 27', 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

ERNST SIMON, OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

METHOD OF PRODUCING FROM AMBER, AMBROID, OR THE LIKE, IN MASS, ClGARETTE-HOLDERS, PlPE-STEMS, do.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 742,245, dated October 27, 1903.

Application filed May 2, 1903. Serial No. 155,310. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNST SIMON, a subject of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, residing at Vienna, Austria-Hungary, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Producing from Amber orArnbroid Mouthpieces for Cigars and Cigarettes, Pipe- Stems, &c., of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to the production from amber or ambroid by heat and compression a blank adapted to form a mouthpiece or holder for a cigar or cigarette and a stem for a pipe, as well as other articles for somewhat analogous purposes, of substantial density and which in finishing will be given a high luster or brilliancy.

Hitherto it has been the general practice to form amber into blocks or the like and to out these blocks up into sections of near the size required to form blanks to become when -fin ished mouthpieces or the like; but such a method of production was not only expensive, but laborious, as well as occasioning undue waste of material in the finishing of the article. This method also involved several different operations to transform the sections into blanks of the shape or form required and then into mouthpieces.

The principal object of my present invention is to obviate the foregoing disadvanta geous features mentioned, among others, and to produce from amber or ambroid under heat and pressure a blank of required shape or form and a blank exceedingly hard or unnaturally dense, which in finishing can be given a high luster or brilliancy and with all the characteristicproperties of clear or highlyclouded amber, but with far greater strength, and produced much less expensively as compared with the clear or highly-clouded amber goods of high quality now on the market.

The nature, characteristic features, and scope of my present invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, illustrating a hydraulicallyoperated mold-press and reservoir in one form for carrying out practically therein the method of my said invention, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a suitable reservoir for containing the melted amber or ambroid, showing a series of rods or standards for the reception of the pressplate of the actuating means for forcing the mass into the mold-blocks of the press. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the reservoir for containing the molten amber or ambroid with the superposed mold blocks of the press having open ended conicalshaped individual hollows or chambers arranged in series there in, this view showing a hydraulically-actuated moldpress in a practical form for carrying out therein the method of my said invention, the mold-press being shown in a position adapted when pressure is exerted to force the mass contained in the reservoir into the re spective individual unconnected hollows or chambers of each block registering in superposed relationship with each other. Fig. 3 is a similar View of the mold-press, showing the same in an operated position with the molten mass forced into and filling the hollows or chambers of the superposed blocks of the press. Fig. 4. is an elevational view of the type or form of blank molded under hydraulic pressure in one of the hollows or chambers of the blocks of the press of Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is a lower end View of the blank of Fig. 4:, showing the configuration or shape thereof. Fig. 6 is an elevational view of what is termed a blank for a saddle-mouthpiece for a pipe adapted to be formed in ahollow or chamber, of modified form to that shown in Figs. 2 and 3, of each block of the mold-press; and Fig. 7 is a lower end view of the saddle mouthpiece blank of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the reservoir for containing a mass of amber or ambroid in a heated condition.

(t represents a series of partially-threaded rods or standards for the reception of the press-plate a as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, the upper ends of the rods or standards being provided with securing or tightening nuts C63.

B is the mold-press, consisting, as shown, of two superposed mold-blocks b and I), each provided, as shown, with a vertical series of individual unconnected open-ended conicalshape hollows or chambers b and b so arranged as to register each with the other in their superposed relationship, and between each block as so arranged is interposed a perforated strip or disk at the point of registry of one hollow or chamber with another in superposed relationship of the mold-blocks Z1 and Z), so that each block can be readily removed from the other after the blank of amber or ambroid has cooled off or become cold in each hollow or chamber of the respective blocks of the press 13. The individual nnconnected hollows or chambers b and b of each block, open at both ends, are of a length corresponding with the height of the block. Beneath and upon which rests the lower block of the press suitably arranged a series of spruce or gates d from the reservoir A, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. By arranging the mold-press with but one set of sprues or gates d for the series of superposed 1nold-blocks of the press 13 waste of the amher or ambroid is reduced to a minimum, since the one series of gates orsprues (Z serves to supply the series of superposed registering hollows or chambers of the blocks of the press 13. The interposed perforated disks, partitions, or strips 0 between the superposed blocks Z) and l), as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, reduce waste of material at the points of registry of the hollows or chambers with each other; but more particularly such arrangement enables ready separation of blocks without affecting the formed blanks in the hollows or chambers thereof.

2 in'l igs. 2 and 3 is an interposed cap-plate adapted to close the upper open ends of the block Z) of the mold-press and is made so as to fit snugly into the recess a of the pressplate (t of the hydraulic ram a After the hydraulic ram (L5 has forced the pressplate (L2 into the position shown in Fig. 3 and the mass has completely filled out the series of hollows or chambers b and b of the respective superposed mold-blocks b and Z) of the press B the nuts (6 are screwed to the plate a on the threaded portion of the series of rods or standards d. Then the ram is elevated and the mold-pieces removed from the hydraulic means thereof, and when the molded mass in the hollows or chambers of said blocks has cooled off or become cold the nuts to are loosened and the respective moldblocks l) and Z) separated or parted and the blanks then removed from the hollows or chambers b and Z1 of the blocks 1) and Z) of the press 13 by any suitable small punchtool. (Not shown.) The blankfthus formed will have the form illustrated in Figs. t and 5 it the hollows or chambers Z) and b" of the blocks 1) and U are of the type illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 with flat bases and will correspond in length with the height of each hollow or chamber.

Blanks of the saddle type g, as illustrated in Figs. (3 and 7, can be readily formed in such. a mold-press B as described, provided the blocks have hollows or chambers of the outline or contour of such type of blanks to become what is well known as saddle mouthpieces for pipes and cigarette and cigar holders. It is also obvious that amber or ambroid may be formed according to my invention into various other types of blocks, which will depend in each instance upon the shape or form of the hollows or chambers of the press B.

The process of my invention as exemplified in one form of a hydraulic mold'press hereinbefore described may be briefly explained as follows: The fragments, pieces, or other forms of amber or ambroid are placed in the reservoir A and subjected to heat of required temperature to bring the fragments, particles, or pieces in mass to the consistency of a pasty or plastic condition, and in such heated condition the mass is forced into the hollows or chambers of the blocks of the moldpress I to completely fill the hollows or chambers thereof under hydraulic pressure, the heating and pressing of the mass being practically continuous until the blanks have been completely formed in the hollows or chambers of the press of substantial or unnatural density, so that in the finishing of the blank produced for use a high luster or brilliancy can be given thereto with the least possible labor, giving an article of a clear or highlyclouded character, as required, inexpensively as compared with the methods now practiced for producing such goods, the finishing being accomplished by the formation of the undercut or projection at one end, boring of the interior, and polishing or burnishing of the surface by suitable Well-known appliances if the articles are intended for pipe stems, cigar and cigarette holders, or the like. The making of such articles in substantially the manner explained will be eX- ceedingly strong and dense, and thus receive a far higher degree of polish or be of greater brilliancy in finish than any like types of articles now being made from blocks of amber by the slow or tedious methods now practiced for producing such articles.

I am aware that it is not new to mold amher under the application of heat and pressure in sectional or two-part molds into mouthpieces or the like; but amber articles so molded have fins and other forms of waste attached thereto when liberated from the molds that must be removed before being finished, which occasions unnecessary expense and labor that it is very desirable to avoid. Moreover, in sectional molds the amber cannot be given by the molding therein,as practice has proven, the requisite degree of density to insure a high luster or brilliancy being given to the finished article without increasing the size of the fins and other objectionable forms of waste from the pressure exerted when produced according to the processes and apparatus described in-the United States Letters Patents No. 234,756, of November 23,1880; No.237,-l97, of February 8, 1881, and No. 461,722, of October 20, 1801, and therefore I disclaim as of my invention any features set out in the said recited Letters Patents; but what I do claim as new at the date hereof is the production of blanks for mouthpieces or other uses from amber or ambroid of uniform unnatural density without fins or other objectionable waste attached to the blanks in their formation, so as to permit in the finishing of a high degree of luster or brilliancy being given to the finished article. The method of producing such articles according to my invention is a decided advance in the art when the nature and characteristic properties of amber or ambroid are considered and as understood by those practically skilled in the art of producing such articles.

Having thus described the nature and ob ject of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of molding blanks to become mouthpieces for pipes, cigars, &c., from amber or ambroid, which consists in molding the amber or ambroid under a pressure sufficient to render the same unnaturally dense, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The method of molding blanks to become mouthpieces for pipes, cigars, &c., from amher or ambroid, which consists in molding the amber or ambroid in a heated condition under a pressure sufficient to render the same unnaturally dense and allowing the molded amber or ambroid to cool or become cold in its dense blank form, the density of the blank permitting in the finishing operation, without chipping or scaling, a high luster or brilliancy being given thereto, substantially as described.

3. The method of molding blanks to become mouthpieces for pipes, cigars, &c., from ainber or ambroid, which consists in molding the material directly into a form which after finishing becomes the article required, and in subjecting said material during the molding operation to a pressure sufficient to increase the density of the blank beyond the natural density of the amber or ambroid material from which the blank is produced, whereby a blank of required shape and uniform density is obtained, as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNST SIMON.

WVitnesses:

J. WALTER DOUGLASS, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

